6 minute read
Alumni Engagement
— Brittany Bascom MBA’16
Volunteer
JAMES SPENCER ’73, CFA, FORMER SVP & CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, CAMBRIDGE TRUST COMPANY
Jim Spencer has been an executive in residence with the Babson College Fund since 2003, where he shares the knowledge and experience obtained from a career in the investment management industry. He has hired 12 students from the program over the years and is now the chair of the Program and Events Committee for the Cutler Center Advisory Board.
Speaker
BESSIE YANG MBA’14, EQUITY RESEARCH ANALYST, ESG COMMITTEE CO-CHAIR, BOSTON ADVISORS
A former Babson College Fund member, Bessie Yang participated in an ESG Roundtable Discussion with Associate Professor Jerome Taillard and Anna Dibble ’22 as a lead-in discussion to the Investing for Good panel as part of Sustainable Investing Day at Babson College.
Center for Career Development Partner
JANCY YANG ’09, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INSTITUTIONAL EQUITIES, MORGAN STANLEY
Since graduating in 2009, Jancy Yang has continued to stay involved with Babson College through her partnership with the Undergraduate Center for Career Development office, where she can have a significant impact on the career planning of finance students. In addition to hosting students as part of the NYC Finance Trek, participating in the NYC Babson Connect, and hosting on-campus coffee chats, Yang always is willing to connect with students to share career advice to help the next generation.
Industry Advisor
As a graduate student who participated in the CFA Institute Research Challenge and won the global challenge, Dave Wellinghoff knows the importance of giving back to students. During this year’s competition, he served as an Industry Mentor for Team Babson. He also spent time throughout the year on conference calls with the team, and coached them as they prepared to analyze a publicly traded company and prepare a written report supporting their buy recommendation.
Mentor
ROSS KLEIN ’10, EQUITY ANALYST, BOSTON PARTNERS
Ross Klein attended a Babson College Fund class as a guest speaker. He was so impressed with the caliber of the questions during the question-and-answer session that he offered to mentor a few of the students. As part of that mentoring experience, he has leveraged his relationship with Oppenheimer to get the students invited to their industry conferences, where they attend management meetings with Ross just as they will later in their career.
Advocate
MARCO GARGUREVICH MBA’01, VICE PRESIDENT, ASSET MANAGEMENT, FIDELITY INVESTMENTS
As a member of the Cutler Center Advisory Board, Marco Gargurevich served as an advocate with his firm to secure a sponsorship for the Babson Trading Competition. As a result of the sponsorship, students who participated in the competition also were able to tour Fidelity’s trading floor, and meet with several Fidelity executives, where they learned more about careers in the investment industry.
Coach
JOSEPH SPINELLI ’98, TRADER, MILLENNIUM MANAGEMENT
Over the last several years, Joe Spinelli has found several ways to positively impact the Babson Trading Team. The team has traveled to New York City to meet with Spinelli in his offices at Millennium Management. He also has connected with them via video conference as they prepared for the Rotman International Trading Competition (RITC). In doing so, he has leveraged his experience as a trader to help them refine their strategy for the competition. He also organized a meeting with his colleagues, who supplemented his advice.
ALUMNI FEATURE:
Brittany Bascom MBA’16
While a student, she participated in the Babson College Fund, a two-semester program where select students manage of portion of the College’s endowment. Her experience was a positive one, and she was impressed by the professors who had corporate experience and many were consulting while teaching. Says Bascom, “They approached our classes with real-world experience that I could translate immediately to my current work. I expected that obtaining an MBA would help over the long term, but I was pleasantly surprised how much I could apply to my job the next day.”
This positive experience had gone by quickly for Bascom, who wanted to stay engaged with the Babson community. There was such a wealth of knowledge and diversity of thought, that Bascom knew she could continue to learn post-graduation. BCF faculty director Patrick Gregory reached out to Bascom and invited her to stay with BCF as an Executive in Residence, helping students navigate financial and real estate companies. “Babson students have incredibly strong technical skills, I wanted to help them understand industry drivers so they could couple that with their in-depth research and financial analysis of a company,” says Bascom.
As an Executive in Residence, Bascom attends class on Tuesday nights, where she meets with her sector team to prepare for a stock pitch or provide feedback on current analysis. Additionally, she meets for an extra hour per week to discuss current holdings in the portfolio and any changes that are prudent for performance of the fund and connects over video and email throughout the week.
Since being named an Executive in Residence, Bascom has hired four Babson students at John Hancock Investment Management. Says Bascom, “When I put Babson students in front of my colleagues, they are impressed by their professionalism and thoughtful questions about the industry, our company, and career growth.”
In addition to being an Executive in Residence for BCF, Bascom has volunteered with other programs at Babson, most recently participating in Cutler Center Office Hours, the Finance Career Panel hosted by the Cutler Center and CCD, and as a judge in the Babson Analyst Initiative stock pitch competition.
In addition to helping inspire more women to seek out careers in finance, Bascom also strives to help students understand how valuable hard and soft skills are in their career journey. As for getting other Babson alumni involved with mentoring, Bascom points out that alumni learn from the students. “The students are embracing change, rapid technological moves, and shifts in our economy. They’re incredibly adaptive and their perspective is hugely important for progress.”
FINANCE INDUSTRY OVERVIEW
Undergraduate and graduate students met with nine Babson alumni who provided an overview of the various career paths associated with a finance concentration. The interactive discussion was facilitated by Babson alumni with relevant work experience based upon the division’s finance learning paths. Alumni were broken up into three groups, corporate financial management, investments, and corporate advisory, to meet with all students in a smaller and more intimate setting. Following the breakout sessions, the group sat down for lunch together to continue the conversations.
Faculty Member Participant:
» Laurie Krigman, Professor, Finance Division » Glenn Migliozzi, Lecturer, Finance Division
Alumni participants:
» Dan Brennan ’87, MBA’89, M’09, Chief Financial Officer,
Boston Scientific » Thomas Callahan ’14, CFP®, Wealth Advisor, The Colony Group » Ed Ciancarelli ’00, CFA, Principal & Senior Investment Analyst,
The Colony Group » Eric Crawley MBA’09, VP Investment Strategist,
Bank of America » Paul Gordon ’00, Investment Officer & Equity Portfolio
Manager, MFS Investment Management » Chris Menard ’96, Chief Financial Officer, BlueSnap » Andrew Merget ’05, CFA, Director, Sponsor Finance, Silicon
Valley Bank » Rob Noreck MBA’08, EVP & Chief Financial Officer, Brightcove » David Wellinghoff MBA’07, CFA, Investment Analyst, Liberty
Mutual
